Akili Smith

[CarsonPalmer9]

What do u guys think of him? Do u really think he was that bad or he did not get a chance?

I think that he never got a chance. He did play bad but he also did not have alot of experience.

But we are better off with Carson!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Carson is the man!!!!!!!!!!!

[BlainThePain]

I think he really was that bad. Last I heard of him, he couldn't even win the starting job on a European squad.

[Stripes]

Horrible draft picks like Akili were the cause of the Dark Ages.

[kurgan74]

As bad as the Akili pick was, it was made exponetialy worse when you think

the Bengals passed on an entire extra set of draft picks to take him. What might

have been. Oh well, if they had made the trade with the Saints, Carson would

likely not be a Bengal.

[Sportsdoc]

AKILI WAS one of those Tedford quarterbacks who played well in a college system... virtually none of Jeff Tedford's QB's do well in the NFL (look at Kyle Boller).... Tedford uses a max protect system that only puts two guys in the pattern so the quarterback choices are pretty easy.....

BUT REALIZE... that was what appeared to be great year for quarterbacks and they all have been sub-par except for McNabb and some people still feel he has underachieved....

SO lots of organizations made mistakes...

SEEMS like we do better with Second round picks... Collinsworth v. Verser....... a lot of our first rounds have been duds...................

[SkinneymulleT]

Strong arm no accuracy. Could not hit intermediate routes over the middle, no touch on short passes, could not read secondary schemes. See poor man's cordelle stewart (I mean dirt poor).

[ShulaSteakhouse]

Why must we dredge this up again?

He was an idiot and he stunk, and couldn't even win a roster spot on another team.

Spare us the "he didn't get a chance" stuff, he simply sucked ass.

[redsbengalsbucks]

I think alot of people forget how bad our pass blocking was at that time. A shell shocked QB sometimes never recovers from the happy feet of a horrible experience behind that kind of line.

Tim Couch was a solid QB untill he was destroyed by this occurance. Ryan Leaf is another that comes to mind, immature QB's pushed into service behind swiss cheese lines. None of them could handle the pressure and never seemed to get back the pocket presence needed to succed in the NFL.

David Carr may end up joining this group, but he continues to show flashes of above average play.

[Stripes]

Why must we dredge this up again?

The attitude present in that era is dredged up daily here.

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

Allright, to defend the Bengals here...and I don't believe I'm saying this...but it's not like the Bengals went off the board to grab this guy where no one else was thinking of taking him. Lots of 'experts' thought it was a reasonable pick. So if the Bengals had passed, probably another team behind them would have eaten it.

Of course, we can always play the 'nature vs. nurture' game, and suggest that perhaps he would have turned out OK if he were drafted by a team that was prepared, at the time, to actually develop a QB. But I think sometimes you strike out big time on low-pick QBs (see "Leaf, Ryan".)

As mentioned, the only idiotic part was not making the trade with Ditka, as no one on the planet is worth that many picks, but still.

In any event, it took the Bengals reaching that kind of low that convinced Mike Brown to hand at least some of the operation to someone who knows what the hell he's doing, so as mentioned, if we hadn't gone through that, we wouldn't have the respectable team we have today. So it's good.

To go OT and address another issue raised in this thread - Tim Couch always sucked. Even in high school, the few times he faced a decent team with a good scheme he didn't do so hot. Systems QB in college. These things don't bode well for the future. I'm a UK fan, but still have to face facts.

[HoosierCat]

I would say there were primarily two things that doomed Akili. The first was that he couldn't stay healthy. The second was that he was simply the wrong kind of QB for the Bengals' offense, which wanted a pocket passer, not a scrambler.

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

I would say there were primarily two things that doomed Akili. The first was that he couldn't stay healthy. The second was that he was simply the wrong kind of QB for the Bengals' offense, which wanted a pocket passer, not a scrambler.

Kind of like poor David Carr. Christ, he could have been the second coming of Joe Montana and nobody would know, he can't stay off his ass for three consecutive plays.

[Clackwoods]

To go OT and address another issue raised in this thread - Tim Couch always sucked. Even in high school, the few times he faced a decent team with a good scheme he didn't do so hot. Systems QB in college. These things don't bode well for the future. I'm a UK fan, but still have to face facts.

Are you a f**king idiot? Tim Couch held almost every highschool record in the country and he was the number one prospect coming out. I went to the same school as him, and our dad's grew up together so my opinion may be a little biased. I went to his state regional game his senior year when he broke the touchdown record, I am pretty sure the team they played won the state title that year and he had like three td's and 0 interceptions against very good competition. He only played two years in college and he helped bring the UK football program alive for a couple years which was continued up until fat boy Lorezon left. As far as the NFL, yea he was a wash out. But put him on the Eagles, or let him play with Chris Carter and Randy Moss and not the browns who's number one reciever was Kevin Johnson, and who's best defensive player has his career derailed by a flag throwing ref. If I was a QB, I would bomb the workouts just to drop in the draft. f**k playing for these s**tty teams. Look at Big Ben. That dude is not that good and he went to a playoff Caliber team and all he had to do was not f**k up and he went 15-1. Ryan Leaf was a scrub tho, and so was Cade Mcnown. I don't think Tim is to worried about not being in the NFL anymore. He got a 55 million dollar deal and I think he recieved like 40 mil of it, and he is married to a playmate and he was able to take care of his dad and mom.

[Stripes]

Are you a f**king idiot?

I'll never understand why someone would open a post with a statement or question like this. It certainly couldn't have been provoked in this instance. What on earth inspires this?

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

To go OT and address another issue raised in this thread - Tim Couch always sucked. Even in high school, the few times he faced a decent team with a good scheme he didn't do so hot. Systems QB in college. These things don't bode well for the future. I'm a UK fan, but still have to face facts.

Are you a f**king idiot? Tim Couch held almost every highschool record in the country and he was the number one prospect coming out. I went to the same school as him, and our dad's grew up together so my opinion may be a little biased. I went to his state regional game his senior year when he broke the touchdown record, I am pretty sure the team they played won the state title that year and he had like three td's and 0 interceptions against very good competition. He only played two years in college and he helped bring the UK football program alive for a couple years which was continued up until fat boy Lorezon left. As far as the NFL, yea he was a wash out. But put him on the Eagles, or let him play with Chris Carter and Randy Moss and not the browns who's number one reciever was Kevin Johnson, and who's best defensive player has his career derailed by a flag throwing ref.

No I'm not an idiot. I personally saw him live get demolished in the high school playoffs by a defense that threw a complex (for high school) scheme at him and he couldn't read it - sound familiar? Stats in high school against crappy teams doesn't mean s**t.

I can tell you for certain they didn't win state his senior year because my high school knocked them out and I saw it live. Look it up if you want to, they didn't even get to the title game. http://www.khsaa.org/records/football/pastwinners.pdf Check your info before you call someone an idiot.

He was a systems QB in high school. He was a systems QB in Mumme's scheme. When he got to the pros and wasn't playing in the run and shoot anymore, he fell on his face. Big schock.

Oh, and just wondering, why the severe anger issue when anyone suggests Little Timmy sucks? Have a man-crush on him in high school or something?

[Kirkendall]

Are you a f**king idiot?

I'll never understand why someone would open a post with a statement or question like this. It certainly couldn't have been provoked in this instance. What on earth inspires this?

I say that all the time to my friends at a bar when they make, what I believe, a ridiculous comment. It's not that you're ripping the guy. Rather, trying to explain how stupid of a comment that was made. Like excuses as to why Akili Smith was actually a byproduct of a horrible offensive line. He sucked more than a Vietnamese whore and blames everyone else for his inadequacies. He lacked mental toughness. He hasn't played a down in the NFL since 2002.

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

Are you a f**king idiot?

I'll never understand why someone would open a post with a statement or question like this. It certainly couldn't have been provoked in this instance. What on earth inspires this?

He sucked more than a Vietnamese whore

Is that the highest level of sucking, or is that reserved for Thai boys in Bangkok (aptly named)?

[HairOnFire]

Why must we dredge this up again?

Uhhh, have you seen your avatar or checked your user name recently?

Living and wallowing in the miserable past is something plenty of you guys can't seem to stop.

[Clackwoods]

To go OT and address another issue raised in this thread - Tim Couch always sucked. Even in high school, the few times he faced a decent team with a good scheme he didn't do so hot. Systems QB in college. These things don't bode well for the future. I'm a UK fan, but still have to face facts.

Are you a f**king idiot? Tim Couch held almost every highschool record in the country and he was the number one prospect coming out. I went to the same school as him, and our dad's grew up together so my opinion may be a little biased. I went to his state regional game his senior year when he broke the touchdown record, I am pretty sure the team they played won the state title that year and he had like three td's and 0 interceptions against very good competition. He only played two years in college and he helped bring the UK football program alive for a couple years which was continued up until fat boy Lorezon left. As far as the NFL, yea he was a wash out. But put him on the Eagles, or let him play with Chris Carter and Randy Moss and not the browns who's number one reciever was Kevin Johnson, and who's best defensive player has his career derailed by a flag throwing ref.

No I'm not an idiot. I personally saw him live get demolished in the high school playoffs by a defense that threw a complex (for high school) scheme at him and he couldn't read it - sound familiar? Stats in high school against crappy teams doesn't mean s**t.

I can tell you for certain they didn't win state his senior year because my high school knocked them out and I saw it live. Look it up if you want to, they didn't even get to the title game. http://www.khsaa.org/records/football/pastwinners.pdf Check your info before you call someone an idiot.

He was a systems QB in high school. He was a systems QB in Mumme's scheme. When he got to the pros and wasn't playing in the run and shoot anymore, he fell on his face. Big schock.

Oh, and just wondering, why the severe anger issue when anyone suggests Little Timmy sucks? Have a man-crush on him in high school or something?

I didn't say he won the state championship

[WhoDeyForever]

As bad as the Akili pick was, it was made exponetialy worse when you think

the Bengals passed on an entire extra set of draft picks to take him. What might

have been. Oh well, if they had made the trade with the Saints, Carson would

likely not be a Bengal.

But if we didnt draft Akili that year we could have a guy by the name of Champ Bailey

[jditty47]

he was pathetic like ryan leaf. stupid question for real.

[ShulaSteakhouse]

Why must we dredge this up again?

Uhhh, have you seen your avatar or checked your user name recently?

Living and wallowing in the miserable past is something plenty of you guys can't seem to stop.

The Bengals' were a better team under Shula, than the Akili years. Sorry that I'm not doing cartwheels over .500 seasons.

If the Bengals' win a playoff game next year, I will change my avatar.

[7/11]

But if we didnt draft Akili that year we could have a guy by the name of Champ Bailey

yup, and that would have snowballed into us probably not getting carson.

[Jet23]

Why must we dredge this up again?

Uhhh, have you seen your avatar or checked your user name recently?

Living and wallowing in the miserable past is something plenty of you guys can't seem to stop.

Let's face it, as long as MB is ultimately in charge, we are living in the past. The '99 draft was less about Brown's inability to judge talent and more about his unwillingness to spend the time or money to sign the additional draft picks. If I recall, they could have had all of those picks and still landed Daunte Culpepper.

The fact is that nobody had a clue if Couch, McNabb, Smith, McNown or Culpepper would be better in the NFL. Mike Brown didn't either. That draft will forever define the franchise. It cracks me up that everyone refers to the 'dark ages' as if MB suddenly had a revelation or saw the error in his ways. The fact is that people stopped showing up to watch his crap product. That is why he supposedly turned it over to ML. MB has one motivation and that is $. He will do just enough to keep the butts in the seats and absolutely nothing more. As long as there is a waiting list for season tickets, you will see no real effort from MB to win a Super Bowl. Can Marvin win despite this disadvantage? Probably, but I bet he is getting frustrated having to defend Cheap ash Mike to the media. I'm sorry is this is not Mai tais and yahtzee enough for ya Hair.

[Stripes]

Let's face it, as long as MB is ultimately in charge, we are living in the past. The '99 draft was less about Brown's inability to judge talent and more about his unwillingness to spend the time or money to sign the additional draft picks. If I recall, they could have had all of those picks and still landed Daunte Culpepper.

The fact is that nobody had a clue if Couch, McNabb, Smith, McNown or Culpepper would be better in the NFL. Mike Brown didn't either. That draft will forever define the franchise. It cracks me up that everyone refers to the 'dark ages' as if MB suddenly had a revelation or saw the error in his ways. The fact is that people stopped showing up to watch his crap product. That is why he supposedly turned it over to ML. MB has one motivation and that is $. He will do just enough to keep the butts in the seats and absolutely nothing more. As long as there is a waiting list for season tickets, you will see no real effort from MB to win a Super Bowl. Can Marvin win despite this disadvantage? Probably, but I bet he is getting frustrated having to defend Cheap ash Mike to the media. I'm sorry is this is not Mai tais and yahtzee enough for ya Hair.

The Bengals cap figures over the last few years seem to do a great deal to refute the age old "Mike Brown is cheap" mentality. I agree that money is his number one priority, just like any other owner of an NFL franchise. He isn't daft enough to think he'll manage to maximize profits without winning games.